A chart or graph is a type of information graphic or graphic organizer that represents tabular numeric data and/or functions in a form that makes it easier to understand large quantities of data and the relationship between different parts of the data. Many tools exist to help the user construct very sophisticated representations of data. It is known to use charting wizards such as those that are available in Excel and various other systems such as those provided by, for example, IBM.
In addition there are multiple Business Intelligence (BI) tools available that enable users to analyze data in an attempt to create meaningful feedback. However, as the amount of data increases, the necessary complexity of the visual representations created by the analysis of the data also increases, and this can end up swamping that part or parts of the visual representation that is/are most required and relevant to an end user. This can be particularly problematic where a user is required to choose the form of the display (e.g. heatmap, bar chart, etc) and display detail (e.g. scale of the axes), and then manually input and subsequently adjust the parameters which lead to an output display. A user must manually assess, estimate or guess what patterns may lie within the data, and once a first iteration an output is complete, to alter or refine the output result manually. This problem can be particularly acute where a user wishes to assess data periodically or over a series of time periods. There may be repeating or similar patterns in the data. However, these may not align with or fit a standard temporal pattern (e.g. a week, month, quarter or year). A user is required to guess or estimate factors such as timescales in order that the data output is visualised in a manner that allows the business measures to be assessed. The sophisticated visualisation algorithms are not generally provided to a user in a manner that enables the user to easily pick the data to be represented, to pick the correct summaries of the data, to pick the right dimensions to be represented, to pick the right forms of visual representation, or choose unique visual designs to create a collection of visualisations that help someone run their business.
Charts, graphs, etc. can generally be referred to as Visual Documents. A Visual Document contains visual representations of data. A Business Performance Driver is a business metric used to quantify a business objective. Visual Documents, are constructed by applying Business Performance Driver(s) (BPD) data to a specific Visual Design.
A Visual Document is designed to illustrate at least one specific point (using the visualisation), support the points made with empirical evidence, and may be extended to provide recommendations based on the points made. The Visual Document is the actual deliverable from the software to the software user. The Visual Document is fed by data and a metadata database that stores definitions of the BPDs—the BPDs are the focus of the Visual Document. The Visual Document refers to the final item, which is made up of a Visual Document Framework which had data plotted onto it.
Various other references to the prior art and its associated problems are made throughout the following description. The present invention aims to overcome, or at least alleviate, some or all of the mentioned problems, or to at least provide the public with a useful choice.